A Way Home
by Juliules
Summary: Kidnapped. By who? Why? None of it matters because Mitzi now has someone to look out for. Another victim. The only problem is finding this little victim's group. What happens when they get there? Eventual Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

_I don't know where I am. _

_Am I kidnapped? Was I shot? Jesus, just think. What did my mom teach me? Don't panic, right? Okay, so try not to scream. Alright, I have something around my eyes, I can't see a thing. That's fantastic. My arms are tied together, but my legs aren't. That's a start. Alright, I can try to feel around and see if there are any weapons, keys, right? Is that what I do? Or I can always just say something to see if there's any other victims. Dammit, how did this even happen? Why can't I remember anything? My head… they must have hit me, how is this even happening? What if the kidnapper is in the room? Shit. Okay. Just say something_

"Hello?" Her mouth was dry and her voice cracked. "Is anyone there? I'm not a threat. My name is Mitzi—"  
There was a muffled scream. _Oh god I'm not alone. _Mitzi wiggled her arms, trying her best to somehow slide them out, "Is someone there?"  
She heard someone kicking their feet on the ground_. It'll be okay, there's another person. We can get out,_ "Hey, hey! It's okay is your mouth blocked? If it is,  
stomp your foot."  
She heard the person spitting, "I'm okay, I'm okay. H…hi."  
_A child_. "Little girl? Are you hurt?"  
"They just tied me... me up. I didn't know what was happening…"  
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm Mitzi, and we're safe, alright? We have each other now and we're gonna help each other out. Right?" She tried her best to stay calm as she took her shoes off and tried to reach them to her wrist behind her.  
"Yes. Yes… okay. Can you see me?"  
"No, I can't. How tied up are you?"  
"They tied my hands, but my hands are in front of me. I'm… I'm afraid to take the scarf off my eyes."  
"Alright, you're going to have to. I'm sorry, but it could help us out, try to look for a weapon or see if you can slide over to me and get my blind off."  
Mitzi could hear the little girl moving around, "It's off! I did it!"  
She smiled, "Great work! What do you see?"  
"I'm sitting on the floor across from you, you're in front of a table, I can stand hold on…" She could hear the girls little feet walk across the room to her, "Here, it'll be bright at first. You can help me look around."  
She opened her eyes and looked at the girl in front of her. _The poor thing, she looks so scared._ "Ready to get out?"  
The girl smiled widely and ran towards a table, grabbing something, "A knife! I'll cut you out first so you can cut mine, okay?"  
She nodded, letting the girl cut the flimsy rope behind me. _Some kidnappers, not even smart enough to keep the weapons out of the room. _As soon as the rope was cut she jumped out of the chair, cracking her wrists and cutting the girls rope, "Alright, time to think. Weapon is good, but not enough if there's multiple men that kidnapped, right? Okay so think, Mitzi, think."  
The girl giggled, "What's so funny?"  
"You're talking to yourself!" Mitzi smiled, "Sorry. I need you to do me a big favor. Stay as close to me as possible. No running away and if you see someone tap me on the shoulder. We're gonna be alright. Do you remember who took you?"  
"It was a man, he grabbed me from behind. I was looking for my mom…" She frowned, "Oh no… I hope everyone is okay."  
"Why what happened?"  
"My group, a heard… that's what this one man calls it… they came out of nowhere. I ran and he… he took me. What happened to you? You have blood on your head."  
"I… I don't remember. I just woke up and here I am. I guess they hit me good."  
"Oh, well my group can help find where you came from!"  
"Yeah, I hope they will. You ready to get out of here?"  
The girl nodded and she crouched down, going towards to door, "Wait, one more question, what's your name?"  
"My name? It's Sophia."


	2. Chapter 2

Mitzi and Sophia crawled out of the unlocked door of the room they were held in. They stayed low throughout the dark hallway outside of the room, both looking for a sign of living or dead. _Why isn't anyone here? Shouldn't there be a guard here or something? Are they that sure we wouldn't escape? _Mitzi stood up, motioning for her friend to stay down, "Mitzi? There's a door over there. Do you think…?"  
Mitzi put her finger to her lips and tiptoed over to the door. She peeked her head through, _not a single person. _She opened the door fully and looked around the room, "This doesn't make sense. No one's here."  
"They could come back." Sophia said grabbing at Mitzi's hand.  
Mitzi smiled softly and looked at the almost empty room. A backpack lay on a table in the center of the room, along with a pistol and hatchet. She examined the bag, "Is this yours?"  
Sophia shook her head, "I only had my doll but I dropped it when they took me."  
She nodded opening the bag carefully. She pulled out cans of fruit and beans, a notebook, bullets for the gun on the table, an engraved hunting knife, and multiple pares of clothes, which she left in the bag.  
**My Mitzi** it read on the handle of the knife, "Is that from your boyfriend?" Sophia giggled.  
She shook her head, "I don't know. It's obviously mine. I mean, I remember the notebook but everything else…"  
"They hit you hard. What do you remember last? Mommy always says retrace your steps!"  
Mitzi sighed putting everything back in the bag and slung it over her shoulder, "I remember running to my parents' home… after hearing about the outbreak. My parents were already gone, but there was a note on the table with an address. I… I just remember taking a butcher knife from the kitchen and… I really can't remember anything else."  
Sophia nodded, "Well we can help you once I get home, it's okay."

The two friends walked around the building, looking for a way out. No longer afraid of kidnappers or rapists popping out. Mitzi noticed a ray of light at the end of new hallway, "That could be our ticket out, Soph."  
The little girl smiled and held tighter onto her hand, as they walked towards the door. Mitzi raised her gun as Sophia opened the door for them.  
"Oh god the smell…" Mitzi said, coughing.  
Dead bodies were scattered around the outside of this building in the middle of the forest, "Close your eyes, Sophia. They're real people."  
Sophia did as she was told as Mitzi helped her hop across the dead. _They must be the kidnappers, but how did this happen? _  
"Do you remember where your group was?"  
"We were stopped on a highway."  
"Tell me about your group while we look."  
Sophia rambled on about her group, telling stories about attacks and a girl who lost her sister. Stopping to mention about her father, but quickly jumping to talk about her doll her friend gave her.  
"You know, I lost my daddy when I was your age." Mitzi said, looking down at the little girl.  
"Sorry." She smiled up at her.  
"He got into an accident, but my mom married another man when I was 15. He was so nice; you know I was an only child before my new family came along. My step-dad had two daughters, Nina was a year younger and Natalie was a year older. It was perfect; we were the best of friends." Mitzi stopped talking before she got to the part where Nina was attacked in a grocery store by one of dead, leading Mitzi to run to her parents' house not even looking back at Nina's lifeless, bloody body lying in the middle of an aisle as one of them ate her. Natalie was in Atlanta at the time of the attack, she had little hope she was still alive.  
"What was your job?" Sophia said, liking the girl time they were having.  
"I loved my job. I was chef at the tiniest little diner, it was pretty popular though, back in Macon."  
"Is that where you're from?"  
"I'm from Boston, my mom and I moved to Macon after my dad died."  
"Boston? My family went on vacation to visit my mommy's sister there once."  
"Yeah, I have to say I liked Macon more, my grandparents lived there. Seemed like home to me."  
Girl talk slowly ended as the two found a hill going up to a road in front of them, "Mitzi... this is the hill I ran down after we were attacked! They might be up there!"  
The word _attack _rang through Mitzi's mind as they climbed the hill, _were there dead still up there?_


	3. Chapter 3

"Stay down while I take a look, I don't want you getting hurt." Mitzi whispered, motioning for Sophia to keep slowly crawled up the hill and peeked under the rail, seeing no feet under the crowd of cars before her.  
"Come on up, Soph." Mitzi said hopping over the rail entering the sea of abandoned cars.  
"No... they left... Mitzi, they're gone! My mommy, she just left me!" Sophia said looking around cars for a sign of her group still being there.  
"Sophia, this might not be the highway-" Mitzi began.  
"No, this is it. Mr. Dale's RV was parked right there," Sophia pointed at the big empty spot. "And Mr. Daryl's motorcycle, this is it, Mitzi!"  
"They have to be out looking for you, you're just a little girl."  
_Jesus, what kind of group am I dealing with? Leaving a 12-year-old to fend for herself? What if I hadn't been there..._  
"Maybe we should stay here, maybe they'll be here tomorrow." Sophia said, Mitzi noticed the few tears rolling down her face.  
"Hey, Soph..." She knelt down to her. "I'm right here, it's okay. We will find them. You know that. By the stories you've told me, I know they care about you. Maybe we should keep looking... it's still morning and maybe they left a sign to try to find you. It'll be okay."  
The little girl wiped her face, "Yeah. Okay, let's go look out there." She pointed into the woods.  
Mitzi nodded, smiling, "I'm right behind you."

* * *

"Hey, stay low." Mitzi said looking at the house in front of them.  
"Do you really think someone lives here?"  
Mitzi looked down at her companion, "Let's go in and see if we can find a place to sleep."

Mitzi held her gun in front of her, tiptoeing around the old house. After looking for what seemed like days all they had found was this house. They were lucky though, not even one walker attack.  
"Looks safe to me. What do you think? Does it get the Sophia stamp of approval."  
Sophia giggled, something she had done more often with her new friend, "Yeah, do you think we could sleep here?"  
Mitzi looked around the kitchen they were in, noticing some blankets and a pillow on a furnace, "I think I found our bed. Where would you like to sleep tonight, my lady?" She bowed in front of Sophia, holding out the blankets."  
"Princess Sophia would like to," she paused and looked around the room, "sleep in that closet!"  
Mitzi nodded and set up their bed, looking in the closet which was a rather large cupboard.  
"Hey, Soph! There's tuna in here!"  
Sophia made a disgusted face, earning a laugh from Mitzi.  
"Oh please! Have you ever had a tuna sandwich? I annoyed my mom so much because that's all I wanted for lunch when I was a kid, like you."  
The girl shook her head, "I'll have that cans of peaches, thanks Mitzi."  
She laughed and grabbed the peaches on the top shelf. They sat down at the kitchen counter, eating and chatting like old friends when they heard a door opening. Mitzi covered the girl's mouth and took her into a bathroom in the kitchen. She held her tightly and reached into her pocket for the knife. _Sounds like just one walker, nothing we can't handle. Shit, I didn't even know they could open doors. _  
Footsteps suddenly grew louder and louder, obviously walking into the kitchen. _They sound human... not stumbling like a walker.  
_The person or walker stopped, Mitzi could hear them pick something up.  
_What if it's the kidnappers? What if one wasn't dead? _  
Mitzi began to shake like Sophia now, she didn't know why they took her. What if she killed someone and she didn't even remember?  
The person walked more around to kitchen, opening the closet they'd be sleeping in. _  
Leave. Just leave.  
_The person did as Mitzi hoped and walked slowly out of the kitchen. They waited until they could hear a door shut and then both let out a much-needed sigh.  
"Thanks for protecting me." Sophia whispered, turning around to hug her.  
"It's okay, let's see if we can find some candy in that closet of ours. How does that sound?"

* * *

The girls both groaned as the sun began to shine thru the windows. Mitzi got up slowly but not without hitting her head off the shelf in the closet. Sophia snorted crawling out after her.  
"Maybe we could look some more today for your group."  
"I actually was thinking we could look for my doll."  
She laughed, "Your doll? Over your mom and friends?"  
"Well I really want it! It was a gift from my friend."  
Mitzi smiled, "It's a plan. I'll grab some more food in case we find somewhere else to stay."

"Are we there yet?"  
"Sophia, that's the ninth time you asked." She groaned.  
"Well it was by a little lake, maybe we can wash off in it."  
Mitzi looked down at her dirty excuse for clothes. An old white sleeveless shirt and tan shorts. Her sister Nina would laugh if she saw her, she was always telling her what to wear although she was younger. Even the day they got attacked in the store, she looked beautiful. She remembered exactly what she looked like, it's hard to forget your sister getting attacked by some... monster. It bit her neck, and Mitzi took off. What a sister.  
"Mitzi! I think that's it!" Sophia shouted pulling her out of her daydream.  
She looked down, they were standing on a cliff over this lake, "I never was a fan of heights..."  
Sophia laughed and took her hand walking down the big hill to get to her precious doll.  
"Wait, there's a walker down there, be careful." Mitzi said stepping in front of her as they got to the bottom.  
They walked closer to the body laying next to the water, talking. Talking? The dead don't talk.  
Sophia stepped in front of Mitzi, "Daryl?"


End file.
